Guilty Secrets
by s.e tudor
Summary: Christine is summoned to court for Queen Carlotta along with her step-sister Meg. She meets the kings best Friend, Duke Erik Sutherland and it's an instant attraction, what comes of it for Queen Carlotta, King Raoul and Erik and Christine. E/C
1. william, my brother

"Come here!" A male voice laughed.

I giggled and climbed up the tree higher "Catch me if you can!" I smiled as I looked downwards towards the patch of dark hair "or are you too much of a princess to do so!" I threw my head back and laughed and clapped my hands, which turned out to be a wrong move. I gracefully fell from the tree; I wasn't as high up as I had expected to be, for I landed in the man's arms below "Thanks!" I laughed.

The laugh that escaped his throat boomed all over the land "Why, I would not want one of the queen's maids of honor to be hurt!" he put me down.

I laughed "Oh William, there isn't even a queen yet!" I shook my head and pulled an apple off the tree. "King Raoul has found a woman; I heard that she might be a Spaniard."

William shook his head "No, I heard she was Italian… Carlotta Gudicelli isn't much of a Spanish name now is it?"

I took a bite of the apple and then tossed it to William "I guess it isn't, do you think she's beautiful?"

He gave me a one arm shrug and took out his knife and cut a sliver out of the apple "Of course she's beautiful Christine, the king wants nothing more than a beautiful wife." He popped the apple piece into his mouth and handed me back the apple, I shook my hands and then he threw it for the animals "I heard that she has deep red hair and the temper of an Irishman."

I gave William a sideways glance "you know what's about to happen right?" I chewed on my bottom lip "I heard that the king is marrying because we are to be at war soon." I grabbed at Williams arm "Brother, you are a knight, I fear for you and talk of an Irishman…" I shook my head "I couldn't bear the thought of losing you to one of them."

He looked at me and put a arm around my shoulder "Christine, it's just like I worry about you eloping to marry some Frenchman or that Lord Oxfordshire will just arrange a marriage for you."

I gasped and shook my head "No, father would never do that! He knows how bad I want to be at court, being at court William; I could find a man with a title, not a man that Lord Oxfordshire picks out for me." I looked down at my lap, my white dress had been soiled with tree sap and dirt. I was freed of lessons for the afternoon, as Father Grabel had fallen Ill and taken a leave of the household, so I spent the better part of the day with my brother. He had decided that he was going to teach me how to fence, because the king loved to fence and I would have something in common with him. I taught him that I was able to fall out of trees and he showed me that he was a nice catch.

William looked at me and sighed "Well Christine, we can't always get what we want you know. Like father and how he remarried Meg's mother."

I nodded "Lady Oxfordshire is a very stern lady." I gave William a sideways glance "if she had known that Father Gabriel was not giving Meg and I our lesson, she would go into a fit of rage." I let a giggle escape the confines of my throat "I don't think that she would want Meg to go to court, Lady Oxfordshire was first a performer herself!"

William nodded "I bet you, right now that she is teaching her daughter in dance and dining."

I smiled and looked at him "I should be with her, no one wants a wife who cannot dance and properly sup with the queen." I leaned in and looked at him, wickedness dancing in my eyes "But I have been trained well in gossip my dear brother, and that is what I had heard that Lady Carlotta loves, is nice gossip... and a scandal or two." I pressed the side of my head against my brothers "Lady Carlotta has had many bedmates in her chamber even before the king was summoned to marry her. I believe that right now, as we speak she has a bedmate."

My brother picked at the blades of grass between us, our heads still together "Do you think that his majesty knows?"

I shrugged "If he doesn't I would think it's best he not know. We all know what an ill temper he has." I inhaled slightly and then sat up "I do not think we should continue to speak of His Grace is such an ill manner, we could be charged for treason if one was to over hear us."

William laughed "Oh Christine, you out of all people are not going to be charged with treason. You have a very soft voice; it would be hard for one to overhear you."

I smiled and looked at him "do you think Lord Oxfordshire is back from his hunting trip yet?" I put a hand over my stomach "I am quite famished."

"you should have finished the apple then." He joked and then stood up, offering a hand to help. I gladly took it and he pulled me up in one swift motion "Let us wash up for dinner, even if he is not home, we will still be served will we not?"

I nodded "Yes, I believe we would. I know that I will not hear the end of it for missing a dance lesson today from Lady Oxfordshire today." I shook my head "I am not as paitent as her daughter you know."

William laughed and nodded "I believe the whole of England knows dear sister." William started to walk towards the gardens and I followed suite "I even bet you five pounds that the king even knows how unpatient that you are."

I snorted "His Grace cares nothing about anyone but himself."

William laughed and gave me a gently shove "oh you jest! his grace cares about everyone and everything! Why, he must have created these lands on which we now walk on!" William extended his arms.

I smiled "Now William, you Jest!"

William opened the door and let me enter first "We know that his majesty puts himself before God." I couldn't help but agree with the statement. William and I had parted to our chambers and had washed up for supper. The estate that my father had was quite large, the grounds had stretched for a few miles and the house its self was quite large. My father and step-mother had shared one of the larger rooms in the east quarter of the house, where my step sister and I had our own at the west quarter, where most of the maids and my step-mothers gentlewomen were kept. My brother had his own apartment in England, and stayed in the east quarter of the house when he was visiting. My brother was great to have around the house, he could reach things that I couldn't and for as long as I could remember he had always helped me in getting into trouble. I chuckled at the thought, my brother was a nice man, and I had only hoped that he would find someone equally as nice as he. Perhaps he would find a lady while in court, and before the war with Ireland proceeded.

I rested on my bed and pulled the curtains around; I wanted to relax for a moment before heading down stairs to see what was for dinner. It was most likely pheasant; my step-mother Antoinette loved pheasant. She was often fond of potatoes, but when she had found out that they were poisonous, she had stopped eating them in fear of her own life. I smiled slightly and closed my eyes, I wondered when Lady Carlotta would be in England to marry his Grace, and I wondered when they would call for ladies in waiting. No doubt she would bring some of her own, but the king favored English women, for more reasons than one. He too probably had a bedmate at this time, but such thoughts could have gotten her hanged. He was the king, he was allowed to have more than one bed mate.

"Christine?"

"Hm?" I mumbled, I had almost fallen asleep, I secretly thanked the intruder for the interruption.

"Mother said she missed you at today's lesson." I closed my eyes tighter, Lady Oxfordshire had sent her daughter to do her dirty work. I had been fond of Meg until she decided to do her mothers work for her. "She spoke to me about Lady Carlotta too.." Christine perked up and pulled back the curtain "She's supposed to be arriving in England sometime next month, the king has already sent out letters to perspective ladies in waiting. Mother thinks that we will receive such letter, the both of us."

I patted the mattress and Meg sat down obediently, she was like a well trained spaniel "We know that the king is in high favor of having sisters in court." I smiled at the blond haired girl. She was a few months younger than I; she was pale and had a rather large nose, and eyes that were such a light green, they were almost yellow. I had found her to be plain and boring, always focusing on dance and dine, she didn't know how to write legibly or even read.

She sighed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, she had been in favor of leaving it down as of late, and I wondered if it had something to do with me. I had inherited my father's curly brown hair, and most of the time it was hard to dress, so I would wear a hairpiece with jewels and let it fall to the end of my back. My hair was much longer than Meg's, which had only reached the middle of her back, and she had voiced more than once on how jealous she was on how fast my hair had grown "I suppose so, but I do not want to compete with you for a position that I do not want for myself."

I smiled and looked at her "you do not want to wait on the queen hand and foot?" I giggled slightly "I would love someone at court with me, who I know and can gossip freely with."

Meg smiled and nodded "Yes, I suppose that you cannot gossip freely about the king to another maid of honor who might have a fancy for him." She smiled.

I smiled and hugged her "Let's make an agreement shall we?" I questioned and she nodded "If I become a maid of honor to the queen, I will make you my maid, and if you become a maid of honor, you will make me yours. You are the only one who knows how to tie my corsets correctly and tightly. And I am the only one who can dress your hair the way you like it." I smiled.

Meg nodded "That seems like a fine plan Christine." She smiled and made her way to my wardrobe "But all talk of court aside, we must find you a clean garment to wear." I looked down at the white dress I had worn out for a play day with my brother, soiled beyond belief. I laughed at the dress and then let Meg help me undress.

"Perhaps we can still save this one, I'm sure the maids will be more than happy to try to save this cloth! If not they can always use it to clean with." I stepped into the dress and pulled it up and slid my arms in last. It was an emerald colored dress made of velvet, on the top was a thick black strip and gold buttons, along the sides of the black velvet strip was little strips of gold, which also decorated around the neck of the dress as well.

Meg smiled and then walked out of the room, I followed behind her and into the dining room where I had found my step-mother sitting with my brother, and like I had thought, pheasant sat on table, along with a few other vegetables and my favorite, candied prunes. We all had eaten our dinner in silence; no one had even made an attempt to talk to one another while my father was gone on his hunting trip. We each wanted one another to be surprised about the findings of the week as my father was when he had first heard them, so we made sure that none of us spoke of anything, not even the king's affairs. After dinner, we all had made our way into the small library that was on the bottom floor, my brother took a seat at the piano, Meg had picked up the lute and I, with no musical instrument talent, had decided to sing. Lady Oxfordshire had loved listing to all of her children play and enjoyed the singing that went along with it, and tonight, we had picked her favorite tune. I wanted to be in her favor, because I had known she would summon me back down here before bed, to talk to me about how displeased she was. I wished Father Grabel had not fallen ill, he more often than not, protected me against her temper. As I sang my melody, I secretly prayed for help.

The song had ended and my brother kissed my step mothers cheek first, followed by Meg and then I was last. Just as I was walking away, I felt her old fingers grip my wrist and hold me back "Just a second Christine."

I turned around and looked at her "Yes My Lady?"

She smiled at me and patted the spot next to her on the loveseat "I have a wondering mind on where you were at today during dance lessons?"

I swallowed hard, she was being sweet and I was not sure if I should be grateful or cautious "I was with my brother, Sir William of…"

"I very well know your brother and you know that. What I do not understand is that when the father is away you think you can play. I assure you Christine that when he returns from his illness I will have him hold you in the study for the whole day and most of the night. Meals will be skipped and play dates with knighted brothers will be forgotten."

I nodded "Yes My Lady." I looked down at the Persian carpeting, trying to hid my anguish.

"You are free to go now." She let my wrist go.

"Good night my lady" I nodded towards her and made my way out of the room, almost plowing into my brother and sister. I fell into Megs arms and stifled my cries in her neck, I felt my brothers hand gently pat my back, I hated the woman, taking away my meals from me was bearable, but not able to see my brother and to enjoy the weather was unbearable and cruel in my eyes. Once I had composed myself, I bid my brother a goodnight and walked with meg back to the west quarter.

The next day my father had returned home from the hunt, bringing back a rather large deer with him, pidgeons and a few turkeys, the turkeys and pigeons were enough to get us through the spring and the dear was large enough to last us through the summer and fall. It was also the day that Father Grabel had returned from his bought of illness, and was told of what the Lady had told me the night before. Father Grabel was not as mean as mother wanted him to be, he had brought up his meals and shared them with me, and even opened the windows in the study.

"You went outside to enjoy the weather, as you say and she is punishing you for it?" Father Grabel questioned.

I looked at him from the piece of parchment I was writing on "I went outside to have a play day with my brother, he is only here for a few short days I thought I'd make the best of it. You had fallen ill so not being in my daily lessons had confused me about the time, and when I had realized what time it was, it was too late to go back to the house. William and I had enjoyed a lovely afternoon anyway." I shrugged "He taught me how to fence, he said it's one of the kings' favorite sports and that if I were to become maid of honor to the new queen, I'd have something in common with His Grace."

Father Grabel smiled slightly "I assure you that if you were to be a maid of honor, you will not have any communication with the king, unless he calls upon you to warm his bed when he will tire of the new queen, we know he will."

I gasped slightly "Father, you know that when the king marries Lady Carlotta, he cannot divorce her at all. Divorce is a sin."

Father Grabel couldn't answer as my father had strode in the room, a piece of paper clutched between his fist "Christine! Such a beauty must not be wasting away here in this room." He smiled at Father Grabel "I heard that you have been teaching Christine all day, bringing your meals up to her, I know what you have been doing being the Lady's back and I thank you, even for opening the windows, we all know too well her temper." He shook his head, his curls bouncing with him "The reason I came to you Christine, is that you have been summoned for a maid of honor position, you and Meg both. Seems to me that your mother has done a bit of bribing on the part of the king, sending him with his favorite sweets, you have much to thank her for." He sat himself in the chair and grabbed her hands "you will be sent to Lady James' household to wait on her until the new queen arrives, Meg will be with Lady Rochford." He grabbed my shoulders and smiled giving them a gentle squeeze "William will be escorting both you and Meg to your new households for the next few months."

I gasped slightly and then stood up "you mean that the king has specifically invited me to become a maid of honor for Her Majesty?" I smiled and wrapped my arms tightly around my father "oh this means so much to me! I must thank my lady for all she has done!" I jumped up and made my way towards the door "when do I leave?"

My father stood up from the table and Father Grabel started cleaning up the mess of papers that had littered the table "Bright and Early tomorrow morning, Father Grabel, I dismiss you from your duties, you are allowed to go back to the church."

I didn't wait to hear Father Grabel's answer to my father, I was ecstatic. Jane, one of the maids of the house had already packed my things, leaving me to wander out in the garden. I sat on a bench near the rose bushes and smiled whatever my step mother did, she had the Kings good graces.


	2. Were not in Oxfordshire anymore

The road to Whales had been a long tedious road. William and I had dropped off Meg to Lady Rochford's house, which had been magnificiant in its self. It had large stone walls outside the grounds with gorgeous ivy climbing up the walls. There was a large house just behind the walls it was three floors and had very large windows and a red door, that was all I was able to see before Lady Rochford made her way outside to greet Meg and William. She was a plump lady, very heavy with a child. I pitied meg, she would have to spend the first few weeks at her new house with the very pregnant lady Rouchford, I made a silent bet to myself that she had terrible mood swings and was due by the time Meg would be summoned to court for the queen.

I had not been so lucky in my choice of housing. Lady James was a widow and had a smaller house than lady Rochford, it was only two stories tall and had weather damaged stone on the front, and a blue door, I much preferred Red. I secretly wished to be in Whales with Lady Rochford and Meg here in York with Lady James. The difference between the two women was astounding, Lady James had light brown hair, dressed up beautifully with pearls, she was a slender woman, a few years older than I was, at least twenty five. She had a small nose and large blue eyes, I wondered how lonely she was besides the three maids that were peering out the window in the top room.

"Ah, Mistress Christine, how lovely of you join our household, even if it is just for a short time." She smiled.

I smiled and curtsied to her "It's lovely to meet you Lady James, you have a wonderful house." Wonderful was the last thing I would say to describe her household. The three girls I had seen for a brief moment in the window were less than beautiful with dull hair and dark complexions.

The lady smiled and looked at me "There is not much asked of you here, just that you do your normal chores and come when you are called upon." She looked at my brother and smiled "You are quite the man there Sir William, I have heard much about you in the letters from your father."

I smiled and looked at her "Well, then I will go ahead and head to my chamber."

She nodded "You are share a bed with Nan, she's the tiniest girl, normally stands to the left." I nodded and made my way into the house, it was old, with old furniture and a old portrait of an old man, who I suspected to be Lord York. It was easy to find the room that the other maids were at, I heard them talking through the door. I inhaled slightly and mustered all my strength and opened the door. Automatically they stopped talking when the door opened, and I had peered inside.

I slipped in the room and wiggled my fingers at them, was that proper? I had never really been out of the house before, at least by myself. I was always with my brother or my parents, they always introduced me and now, here I was standing in front of a slightly cracked door, feeling as if it was going to be closed any moment and the girls standing in front of me would turn into lions and tear me to pieces "I… I'm Christine D-Daae, I've been sent here to be trained on how to wait upon a lady." I swallowed hard "I'm to wait upon the new queen." The girls just staired at me, and I bowed my head and held my hands in front of myself.

"Welcome Mistress Christine." The small one on the left smiled at me "We are to share a bed, I heard." She looked at the other two girls and smiled at them "Oh now don't be shy, you remember how she felt when you all came here right?" the girls nodded and each mumbled a hello. "Why don't we introduce ourselves to Mistress Christine, I will start since you girls are being ninnies." She smiled and me and curtsied "I am Nan, Lady James' youngest maid at fifteen."

"Coretta." The tallest one mumbled.

"Elisabeth" the other said.

I smiled and looked at him "it's lovely to meet you all."

"Coretta thinks that you would be too tired to join us and sup but you seem to be in good spirits" Elisabeth smiled and looked over at Nan "what do you say Nan?"

Nan smiled and linked arms with me, it striked me as odd at how quick she warmed up to me. I had a few friends back in Oxfordshire not counting my family, none of which I could take with me to court as my own maid, perhaps Nan would accept my offering, I had already enjoyed her company. Nan had showed me around the small house, the room at the end of the hall was Lady James' room, and unless we were invited, we were not allowed in. There were a few other rooms on the top floor, but most of them occupied by the cooks and the maids. Nan showed me the sitting room, where I had noticed my brother and Lady James' sat. I wondered if my brother was going to court her, she was a pretty lady after all, and if I had worked for her, I could get to know her beforehand. I smiled to myself, and followed Nan through the kitchens and into the garden.

"This is a beautiful garden." I whispered, the flowers were in full bloom and the trees along the pathway provided excellent shade.

"My Lady says that her house isn't in the best shape, but her gardens will be fantastic, she doesn't do much with us, so we prefer to stitch out here in the gardens on a lovely day like today." She smiled and pulled a apple from the tree, which had reminded me of my brother "would you like an apple mistress?"

I shook my head "No thank you Nan." I made my way towards a stone bench and sat down, Nan joining me sometime later "did you chose to come here?"

She shook her head "no, my father and mother had perished from the plague a few summers ago, Lady James' is a distant cousin and happily took me in. I had met Lord James and he was such a nice sir. The painting above the mantel does him no justice! He looks angry but he was very nice. Lady James was by his bedside when he had caught the plague himself, she had sent me away along with the other maids and cooks in their household, we went to their London apartment for a few months. Sadly the Lord died and My Lady was in mourning for about a year, until the king himself visited!"

I gasped slightly "His Majesty came here?"

Nan nodded "Yes, with Duke Erik Sutherland, the kings best friend! Oh, he's much more handsomer than His grace, if I shall be bold to say." She giggled and leaned into me "He was about a foot taller than His Grace and had a little facial hair, on his upper lip and on his chin, close cut, very regal!" she giggled again "I couldn't take my eyes off him and I noticed that his own eyes, were an emerald green!" she sighed in content "He has gorgeous eyes." She paused in speaking for a moment before she contuined "There was something strange about him, he had a mask on the right side of his face, a painfully white mask." She shook her head "Coretta thinks that he has to wear it because he is much better looking than King Raoul and that is the best way to keep the attention on his majesty himself. Elisabeth says that he has a large scar from the bottom of his lip to the top of his forehead and from his nose to his ear from battle!" she giggled "I think that Coretta is right."

I shrugged "perhaps, I guess we will never know now will we?" I picked a rose off the bush sitting next to us, another reminder of home "Is Lady James searching for a husband?" I questioned sniffing the rose.

"I do not know Christine." She looked back towards the house "she has taken a liking to your brother quite quickly though." Nan smiled and looked at me "Coretta has been promised to a frenchman much to my ladies dismay."

I snorted "The French are better than the Irish, it could always be worse. Just think she could be marrying a Irishman with no money, no title and no land." I sighed and rested my elbow on my knee and my chin in my hand.

"Oh, I would hope that Sir Montague has a money and land! He's very honorable in france, everyone just loves him and he's quite the catch. He has been here twice already to present jewels to Coretta."

I smiled and looked at her "If you had the chance to leave here, would you?" I glanced towards the house, if my brother was going to court Lady James then she really would have no use for old maids, and being in the castle with me, Nan could soar to new heights.

"Oh I'd love to be a lady in waiting!" she smiled and looked towards the sky "Oh, I fear we must get inside soon, I can feel a rain coming on."

I laughed slightly and we made it back into the house just in time. Perhaps Nan was great to have around and if she wanted to leave, I could always ask her. Dinner was a formal affair, the gentlewomen of the house and my brother all ate at the table, along with Lady James and for once, we didn't have pheasant. It was a delightful meal of sugar cured pork and green beans. Once dinner was over, we all conversed in the sitting room while Lady James herself had brought out the tea. I had loved Lady James' household so far, I could tell I was going to regret leaving it in just a few short weeks.

"I dismiss you ladies, please rest up, we have quite a long journey to town tomorrow. I heard that our new friend hear is in need of some proper attire for the castle, as a welcoming gift, we will buy her a few things."

I started to protest but she held up her hands, signifaling that her mind had been made up. I curtsided towards her and ran up the stairs to the bed chambers. Nan helped me dress for bed, and I helped her, it was a reward at the end of the day to be freed of the corset and sometimes, when I was at home and my family had gone to the market, I made sure not to wear it. I was already thin, I didn't see the need to be thinner.

The night went by quickly and the rooster that I had not seen the day before croaked out his tune waking up the household. I put the pillow on my head and wished that we had ate the rooster last night instead of the pig. Nan and I went about helping each other dress and I dressed her hair up beautifully, the way I would have done Meg's hair. My lady and the other three girls made our way into the city, it wasn't a very lovely city, but if this was what lady james' had married into and this is what she had loved.

Lady Carlotta had sent my father a letter and he had sent it to lady james' house hold on what she had wanted her ladies in waiting to wear different shades of purple because purple just happened to be her favorite color. I had also acquired a French hood, and when we had returned to the lady's house, and she laid down for a nap, Nan, Coretta and Elisabeth found a way to put up my curly hair, in a fashionable style. We had supped together talking about the outing, and we had our normal gossip about the king and the soon to be new queen. If any one of the women or men in the household had slipped anything we had said, I was pretty sure we would be hanged for high treason.

That night, I had dreamed about the king, his shoulder length golden blond hair and his close cut beard along with his brown eyes had played in my mind for the night. He seemed gentle, but I had known otherwise and in my dream, I had escaped the castle grounds, with him following close behind, calling my name and he was… laughing. I had awoke in the middle of the night, unable to go back to sleep, so I laid there in the bed until the rooster had made his calling for us to wake. I opened my eyes, and stretched, apparently I had fallen asleep, I wonder when I had done so. I helped Nan dress and she once again helped me, we had become close since I had arrived, Coretta had distanced herself from us and Elisabeth was just always there, in the background. After we had enjoyed a small breakfast we went to work preparing the lady for her company. She had commented on Nan's hair the night before and instructed me to do the same thing to hers while Elisabeth had decided to put a bit of rouge on her cheeks.

"Madame…" Coretta came through the door and contuned to speak "your company has arrived and is waiting in the parlor."

She smiled and looked at Coretta "thank you Coretta, please tell Sir William that I will be down in a bit, his sister is dressing my hair."

I looked down at her and smiled slightly "My brother is here?"

She let out a short giggle "Why yes, the night I had sent you girls to bed, he asked to officially court me. I had thought it to be too soon, we just met after all. I summoned him back here, thankfully he did not get very far and was able to come back. I know that this sounds awful playful of me, but if he were to propose marriage right now, I would have to accept."

I looked down at her and backed away after finishing her hair "I do hope that this is not some pity game because we are close to going to war with Ireland, and my brother may never feel the love of a woman. He has never been intiment with a woman and he is your age my lady but please, don't take what I have said the wrong way, I want my brother to be happy and I want you to be happy also. But I don't want you to rush into anything." I curtsied and left, leaving her to think about it. I loved my brother, but I didn't want him to rush into marriage with a woman he had just met. I frowned and lay on the bed pulling the bed curtains around me. I would much rather have met my future spouse instead of having an arranged marriage.

Lady James and my brother had dined together, sending us to eat in the kitchens. By the end of the night, we had learned that my brother did propose marriage and she had gladly accepted. There were perks of having the room by the staircase. I was going to have a sister-in-law and although I thought it was a good idea at first, I couldn't help but feel dread. When I had made my way back up the staircase, I grabbed my needlework and started to stitch one of her favorite gowns.

My days at the house in York went by slowly, and my brother had not shown up since Lady James had not summoned him since. She had set us to work out in the garden as well, I spent most of my time outside digging up the earth while Elisabeth and Coretta had been sent to clean the inside of the manor and Nan to do the monthly laundry. I wondered if the lady was doing this out of spite, or if she wanted to make sure everything was perfect for my brothers arrival as her husband. I heard them talking that they would contuine to live in this house hold and raise their kin here as well.

I figured it was good enough for William, as we didn't have a house for him to inheret that we were not living in, we just had our land and our house, nothing fancy as oxfordshire wasn't a large town. As I dug up the dying flowers, I wondered how long it would be until she was with child. I sighed and wiped the sweat off my forehead with my hand and had went back to work.

"Christine?"

I contuined to dig "Yes Nan?"

She made her way towards me and kneeled down "There is a visitor here for you, he is waiting by the rose bushes."

I stood up and looked at her "Who is it Nan?"

She inhaled slightly "It's Duke Sutherland, he has an important letter for you."

I felt the butterflies start to flutter in my stomach, as I made my way up the stone path towards the rose bushes that Nan and I had sat by a few days earlier. I made my way up the path quietly and saw the man I was to meet un expedictly. His back was turned to me, as he was looking at the roses on the bush, he had short black hair and was dressed in royal colors "Sir.." I curtsied and when I had came up, he had turned around, he was handsome, just as Nan had described him, along with the haunting mask.

"Mistress Daae, I am Duke Erik Sutherland, sent here on official business from the king." He stared at me, his green eyes boring into my light blue ones. For a moment, I had forgotten the reason that he had came until he shook his head and handed me the letter.

I inhaled slightly and nodded taking the letter gently from his hand "Thank you sir, tell his grace that I cannot wait to serve her grace, when the time is right."

Lady James' made her way out into the garden and smiled "Ah, Duke Sutherland, come, join my ladies and I for afternoon tea."


End file.
